Publication Items

Arrest of Four Near Hog Farm Tests Utah's "Ag Gag" Law [1]

One way to deal with bad press is to make it illegal. Exposés of inhumane conditions at feedlots and slaughterhouses are being made illegal by state legislatures that pass "ag gag" laws. Now a case in Utah is challenging whether industrial agriculture's claims of secrecy trump the eating public's right to know. Image: Sows in 7'x2' Smithfield Foods gestation crates. By Humane Society of the US [CC], 2010. [2]

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [4]
Agriculture [5]
Consumer [6]
Health [7]
Journalism & Media [8]
Laws & Regulations [9]
Pollution [10]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [11]
Northwest (OR WA) [12]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Arrest of Four Near Hog Farm Tests Utah's "Ag Gag" Law [1]
Celebrating 25 Years, Fluff Free [14]

In this last column of his SEJ presidency, Don Hopey addresses the environment beat's necessity and SEJ’s role in it by focusing on two events, one just past, the other approaching quickly.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ Presidents Report [15]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [8]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Celebrating 25 Years, Fluff Free [14]
Decades of Petrochemical Industry Documents on Hiding Toxicity in Online Archive [16]

The Center for Public Integrity, Columbia University, and City University of New York have just published some 20,000 pages of hitherto unpublished letters, e-mails, presentations, and meeting minutes from the oil and chemical industries in a public database, called "Exposed: Decades of Denial on Poisons."

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [17]
Consumer [6]
Energy & Fuel [18]
Health [7]
Pollution [10]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Decades of Petrochemical Industry Documents on Hiding Toxicity in Online Archive [16]
Ohio Utilities Seek To Keep Reasons for Public "Bailout" Secret from Public [19]

Three major electric utilities want the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to make ratepayers pay for aging and unprofitable coal and nuclear generation plants in that state. But the ratepayers — the utilities claim — aren't entitled to know whether they might be ripped off.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Consumer [6]
Economy & Business [20]
Energy & Fuel [18]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [21]
Region:
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [22]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Ohio Utilities Seek To Keep Reasons for Public "Bailout" Secret from Public [19]
Foreign Agents May Cloak Environmental Stories [23]

Environmental journalists can find important stories using data about lobbyists registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to work for foreign firms and governments. The Sunlight Foundation and other groups have compiled some of the information into a searchable online database — a starting point for finding enviro and energy stories.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [20]
Environmental Politics [24]
Laws & Regulations [9]
Region:
International [25]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Foreign Agents May Cloak Environmental Stories [23]
FOIA Reform Is Dead; Long Live FOIA Reform [26]

Legislation to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, a key journalist's tool, died in the final hours of the do-nothing 113th Congress — but hopes remain that the coming 114th Congress could pass the bipartisan package. The bill's Senate passage was delayed by a "hold" placed on it by retiring Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), whose reasons were not clearly explained but were apparently due to banking interests' fears.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [20]
Government [27]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about FOIA Reform Is Dead; Long Live FOIA Reform [26]
Tracking the Fracking Boom [28]

In this excerpt from the latest issue of SEJournal (Fall), Bobby Magill's special report offers coverage basics and questions to ask when you are reporting on the spread of shale oil and gas development.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [29]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [18]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Tracking the Fracking Boom [28]
Thanks to These Generous Members and Friends Who Supported SEJ’s Work in 2013 [30]

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [31]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [8]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Thanks to These Generous Members and Friends Who Supported SEJ’s Work in 2013 [30]
"Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America’s Environment" [32]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [33]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Studies [34]
Journalism & Media [8]
People & Population [35]
Science [36]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about "Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America’s Environment" [32]
"Aluminum Dreams: The Making of Light Modernity" [37]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [33]
Topics on the Beat:
Consumer [6]
Environmental Health [38]
Natural Resources [39]
People & Population [35]
Technology [40]
Water & Oceans [41]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about "Aluminum Dreams: The Making of Light Modernity" [37]

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